§ 51:212 — Registrability

§212. Registrability
A name or mark by which the name, goods, or services of any applicant for
registration may be distinguished from the name, goods, or services of others shall not be
registered if it:
(1) Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive or scandalous matter.
(2) Consists of or comprises matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a
connection with persons, living or dead, educational institutions, institutions, beliefs, or
national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute.
(3) Consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia, symbol, seal,
emblem, or logo of the United States, or of this state, or of any local governmental
subdivision of this state, or of any state or governmental subdivision thereof, or educational
institution, or of any foreign nation, or any simulation thereof.
(4) Consists of or comprises the name, signature or portrait of any living individual,
except with his written consent.
(5)(a) Consists of a mark which contains any of the following characteristics:
(i) When applied to the goods or services of the applicant, is merely descriptive or
deceptively misdescriptive of them.
(ii) When applied to the goods or services of the applicant, is primarily
geographically descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them.
(iii) Is primarily merely a surname.
(b) Nothing in this Paragraph shall prevent the registration of a mark used in this
state by the applicant which has become distinctive of the applicant's goods or services. The
secretary of state may accept as evidence that the mark has become distinctive, as applied to
the applicant's goods or services, proof of continuous use thereof as a mark by the applicant
in this state or elsewhere for the five years next preceding the date of the filing of the
application for registration.
(6) Consists of or comprises a mark which so resembles a mark registered in this
state or a mark or trade name previously used in this state by another and not abandoned, as
to be likely, when applied to the goods or services of the applicant, to cause confusion or
mistake or to deceive.
(7) Consists of matter or words which deceptively or falsely suggest a charitable or
nonprofit nature to an organization which is in fact a profit-making organization.
(8) Consists of a matter or words that imply an affiliation with an administrative
agency of this state, or any of its political subdivisions, or of the United States.

Legislative History

Acts 1954, No. 235, §2. Amended by Acts 1968, No. 475, §1; Acts 1978, No. 181, §2; Acts 1979, No. 762, §2; Acts 1997, No. 833, §2, eff. July 10, 1997; Acts 2018, No. 560, §5, eff. May 28, 2018; Acts 2022, No. 193, §5.